A Decade North Of 60

This month not only marks our ten year wedding anniversary, it is also our ten year mark of northern living!  We have now lived a full decade north of sixty.

Our first two years were spent living in cheap crappy rental units in Hay River, NWT (pop. 3500).  Matt was working shift work at the hospital there and I was working a number of jobs.  I worked casual at a young offenders facility, did some subbing at the schools, and then got on permanent at the college teaching upgrading.  We lived bare bones so we could pay off our massive amount of student loans (100k paid off in three years!), but we always found a few bucks to go and have beer and wings with our friends once a week.  Ahhh.... the child free years- staying up late, drinking homemade wine a friend made, late night bonfires at the lake....  Yep, those were some awesome years.

Then I drug my husband further north.  Matt is from Cape Breton while I am from northern BC.  Poor guy really had no where he was being taken.  Matt landed a job at the nursing station in the fly in only community of Kugluktuk, Nunavut (pop. 1600) and we bought a nice little house (sight unseen).  I got my dream job of being the Adult Educator/Coordinator for the community college.  We lived there for nearly three years, made great friends, worked our butts off, and then I got pregnant and had Hunter.  Once I had Hunter, I realized I wanted to be closer to family (as in have road access) and we were also pretty burned out from our jobs.  Time for change, but I knew I couldn't leave the north.

Onwards (and southwards) we came to the Yukon.  We have now been living in Faro, Yukon (pop. 375) for five and a half years.  Matt works at the nursing station and I have been a stay at home parent all this time.  This place definitely feels like home and I cannot picture us leaving.  We love our home, the community, the school, and how accessible outdoor activities are.  While all of the territories have unique aspects, the Yukon is my favorite.  We like to call it "The Easy North."  I am happy we have found a place where we are able to put down roots.

Across all the places we have lived, we have always been active in volunteerism.  Both Matt and I believe it is important to help out in the community you call home.  I am thankful that I do not have to have a job outside of the house now and that I can give more of my time to my community.

I hope our next decade is spent right here, watching our kids grow up in this safe community where they are free to roam and just be kids.